Flounced Chestnut

Agrochola helvola, the flounced chestnut, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. The species is found in most of Europe, north to Scotland and Fennoscandia up to the Arctic Circle, south to Spain, Sicily (it is not found on Sardinia), Greece further east to the Middle East, Armenia, Asia Minor, western Turkestan and central Asia up to central Siberia.

The wingspan is 34–45 mm. The colour of its forewing is either dull or bright red with inner, outer, and submarginal lines brownish, formed of lunules between the veins, those of the inner line more continuous; a distinct brownish angulated median shade. Its stigmata is usually very indistinct, of the ground colour or slightly darker, with paler annuli. Its hindwing is grey, with costal and terminal areas and the fringe generally ochreous or rufous. The basal area before inner line and the space between outer and submarginal lines are darker, forming more or less prominent bands.